Not long ago, Kolkata Knight Riders were in direct competition with Chennai Super Kings for the top spot in the points table. They had won four of their opening five IPL matches with the only defeat coming in a Super Over against Delhi Capitals. However, since their dominating win over Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, the former two-time champions have undergone a slump. They have lost three straight matches with two of those defeats coming at home, while defending.

Three of their four wins have come while chasing which makes it clear that they don’t like batting first. They were flying high on the devastating form of Andre Russell who has played a dominant role in all but one of their wins. Not good defenders, overly dependent on Russell – both the factors are hurting them now.

So the arrival of bottom-dwellers Royal Challengers Bangalore comes as a positive news. Why? Because they have a psychological edge over them having bested them in a high-scoring affair earlier this season with Russell blasting 13-ball 48 in a successful 200+ plus chase. RCB arrive at Eden Gardens having won just one of their eight matches and their chances of making the playoffs hanging by a thread. One more defeat and their season will be as good as dead. So what can they do? Well, for starters, the luck seems to be working in their favour. Russell has been hit on his shoulder during a net session – the same area which he ended up bruising against Delhi Capitals. He might be a doubtful starter. Strike one. What RCB can next do is to hope that they win the toss and chase –their only win, against Kings XI Punjab, came while chasing.

Probable XI: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk/captain), Andre Russell/Carlos Brathwaite, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Harry Gurney

Probable XI: Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Moeen Ali, Akshdeep Nath, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj/Kulwant Khejroliya